Arcadian Hearts
by Emerald Wolf 915
Summary: My first challenge on FF. Detailed summery inside as well as rules for idea use.
1. Chapter 1

This is my first challenge on

Rules for adoption

PM me a fourth chapter if you want to write this story. The better it is the more likely you are to get to be the author. No offence, but I don't want my story ideas mutilated.

The new author MUST own or played a copy of Skies of Arcadia (A game that was made for the dreamcast but reborn on the gamecube with new stuff) and have a good grasp of the concepts from Kingdom Hearts 1 & 2.

Title stays Arcadian Hearts. This is so I can find it later and read it after it's been adopted.

Read what I have here to get a feel for the story.

After you get the rights to the story I'll PM you about key facts of the story.

Now… On with the story!...so far.

**Chapter 1**

**The Awakening**

He was falling.

That was the conclusion that the boy made as he slowly awoke from the depths of unconsciousness… at least he thought he was waking up. The air was rushing up past him at an alarming rate, and yet he wasn't scared. Actually he was busy wondering how he had gotten there.

He was about 17 years old and approximately 5 feet 5 inches tall. He had forest green eyes and short, brown hair. He was wearing green jeans, a forest green blazer over a black undershirt, and black shoes

The boy remembered how, after his shift in the crows' nest he went to his quarters onboard to sleep. Then, as he was about to get undressed he started to feel dizzy and his vision started to swirl before he collapsed on his bed.

"I must be asleep then." The boy said aloud before freezing in place with his eyes wide open. "Did…Did I just…talk?" the boy said sounding surprised. Then he closed his eyes and said " But I never talk in my dreams, and since when could a person _feel_ what they were dreaming?"

It was true, he could feel the wind rushing past him, but instead of the wind feeling cold and harsh it felt… warm, soothing, and protective.

As soon as he opened his eyes he noticed that he wasn't falling anymore. Instead he was standing on what looked like a giant stained glass platform. On its surface was a picture.

The seven moons in a circle made up the outer part of the picture, one as red as fire, one as blue as the skies, one a deep forest green, one canary yellow, one a dark purple, one a dazzling silver, and one as black as night. "Wait… there's no black moon is there? I thought we only had six." said the boy, sounding confused. Calking it up as a quirk of the dream he continued examining the picture. "Why are Vyse, Aika, Piastol, and me in this picture? And who's the blond girl?" It was true. There in the picture were the boy and his friends as well as a girl with pale blond hair.

As soon as the boy was done looking at the platform a toneless voice seemed to emanate from all around him and resonate within his head. _**"Power sleeps within you. If you give it form, it will give you strength. Warrior, guardian, or mystic… which path shall you choose?"**_

Three pedestals appeared with a sword on the first one, a shield on the second one, and a staff on the third one. It was then that the boy said, "This is by far the most realistic dream I've ever had. Guess I have to pick one." He looked at the pedestals and considered what was on each. "I don't think I want that sword or the shield. I don't have any need for a shield in my fighting style and that sword doesn't look like the kind I'm used to using. The staff it is then."

He walked over to the pedestal on my right and took the staff from it. The voice spoke again. _**"The powers of the mystic, untold wisdom, a staff of wonder and ruin… Is this the form you choose?"**_ He had to think for a minute here. For some reason as he held the staff he could feel some sort of powerful energy pulsing through it. He immediately knew what it was. Magic. He instantly knew this was the path that he wanted.

"Yes," The boy answered. As soon as the word left his mouth, five black spots appeared on the platform and started moving towards him. When they got closer they took on a third dimension and looked like little, pitch black people with antennae and glowing yellow eyes. he swung the staff, and when it hit one of them it turned to dust. What's more, when he hit it he felt no resistance, like he hit nothing but air.

Deciding to end this quickly the boy said "Pyri!" Fire gathered into 4 spheres in front of him before shooting forward and striking each of the black things, witch then disappeared like the first one did.

Before he could contemplate what those things were, the platform he was on started to rumble. When the rumbling stopped the boy got a sinking feeling in his stomach as well as the feeling of being watched. Looking behind himself, the boy said "Oh shit." Behind him was what must have been the biggest creature he had ever seen.

It was at least 2 stories tall, human shaped with a heart shaped hole in the center of its chest, and had chords of hair that were as thick as the boys' arm falling in front of its face. The boy noticed none of this. He only noticed 4 things about it.

It was HUGE!

It was pitch black.

It had the same yellow eyes as those little black creatures.

It was aiming a punch right for where he was standing.

Jumping out of the way of the attack, the boy realized that 1. he wasn't getting out of this without a fight and 2. he needed to give himself an edge.

"Increm!" the boy shouted and he was covered in a crimson aura that hugged his skin, boosting his physical strength. He then quickly ran up the giants' arm that was apparently still stuck in the ground. Upon reaching the things' shoulder he swung the staff right into the things' face 3 times before shoving the but of the staff into its right eye.

As the giant writhed in pain from having its eye impaled the boy fell off its shoulder. Landing on his feet, thanks to some midair maneuvering, the boy looked up at the giant witch was now on its hands and knees and starring at him with its 1 good eye. Pointing the staff at the giant the boy said "You aren't so tu-huh!?" The boy trailed of as staff he was holding vanished, as did the empowering aura of his Increm spell.

The next thing the boy knew he was sinking into a black puddle that had appeared under his feet. Then the strange voice spoke up again in a comforting tone. _**"Do not be afraid. Remember. You hold the mightiest weapon of all. Good luck… keybearer."**_

That was the last thing the boy heard before the darkness overtook him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**The sword**

..ad.

'_Who said that?_' the boy wondered as he began the journey to the land of the awake.

.rad.

'_Sounds like a girl's voice and… so familiar. _'Thought the boy who was now half awake.

Brad! Wake up!

Now he was awake. The boy, now identified as Brad, bolted upright in his bed. He was wearing the same outfit that he wore when he went to bed, and wore in that strange dream. But Brad wasn't thinking about the dream right now, instead he was scanning the room for whatever had woken him up. What he found was his friend of 7 years or more Piastol.

She had inch long snow white hair and ice blue eyes, a petite body that was strong, lithe, about 5 feet 3 inches tall, and in Brad's opinion very hot. She was wearing her usual outfit consisting of: an electric blue T-shirt, black blazer (that aside from the color difference looked exactly like Brad's), tight black jeans, and steel toed black shoes. In her hands was her weapon of choice. A scythe. It had a black wooden shaft but the blade was, like all weapons of arcadia, a moonstone-metal alloy colored a snow white, indicating that she had it imbued with a silver moonstone at present.

"Piastol. Why in deep sky did you wake me up? And why do you have your scythe with you."

"Because it's time to get to work." Said the white haired girl. Seeing Brads' confused look she continued "We spotted a vaulan cruiser and were going to raid it. Now hurry up and grab your sword. We can't let Vyse have all the fun right?"

"Damn right we can't." said Brad getting off his bed and grabbing his sword which he had found in the last raid on a heavily armed vaulan cargo ship.

It looked like a broadsword. The blade's moonstone-alloy edge was red like Piastol's scythe, meaning Brad had it energized by a red moonstone as well. The blade was about two and ¾ feet long and the center was engraved with strange runes. The other eight inches was the gold hilt, handle wrapped in black chord, and gold hand guard that had a glowing 1 inch diameter spherical diamond imbedded in the center.

Brad had found the sword purely by chance. The sword was inside a box that looked like it was older than dirt and was covered in what looked like silver runes. The box itself wasn't what got the crew interested in it. It was the fact that the box was inside a high grade safe that took a pyrum spell to blast open and the safe was guarded by 4 vaulan marines.

Soon after they had gotten the box they felt like throwing it into deep sky. No matter what they did they couldn't open it, they even tried blasting it open like they did the safe it was in. Didn't do a moons be damned thing. Just when they were about to throw it overboard something… odd happened.

Brad had started to examine it to see if there was some sort of seam or depression. As soon as he touched it the runes on the box started to glow a bright white light that got everyone's' attention and after the light faded the box opened to reveal the sword in a black sheath. After having the sword examined they gave it to captain Dyne who gave it to Brad saying "You found it, it's yours."

Ever since that day nearly a year ago Brad had been training with the sword and he had learned something cool about it. It boosted the power behind his spells when he focused his magic into it before casting them. Since he was both a swordsman and a mage, this was great but because he didn't want to grow too reliant on it he didn't use this power very often.

But this wasn't a time for Brad to reminisce. Now was the time for a raid. But this one raid would begin a journey that would shake the very foundation of the world of Arcadia.

And to think… the ones to change the fate of the world are a bunch of teenagers.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**Strange clothes**

Vyse is approximately seventeen years old, about 5 feet and 7 inches tall, had short, messy, dirt brown hair who's bangs threatened to fall into the top of his amber eyes, and a 2 inch scar running across his left cheek. He wore a spyglass that was shaped and worn like an eye patch over his right eye. For clothes he wore a red handkerchief around his neck, a blue sailing tunic with the arms attached by leather straps, a brown belt he used to keep the tunic form fitting, a black T-shirt under the tunic, long black pants, and boots the same color of his hair.

Vyse is the kind of guy you would willingly follow into the depths of hell for a suicide mission. He's just a born leader, who has more charisma than… well, anybody. He also has a heart of gold and cares deeply for his friends, family, and crewmates. He's great with swords.

Right now Vyse was looking on from the crows nest as some of his crewmates were throwing grappling hooks onto the side of a vaulan cruiser.

Vaulans made their ships out of steel with nothing in mind but their nonsense about Vaula conquering the world. The cruiser had 4 propellers keeping it airborne, 2 sticking out of the bottom and one on either side of the rear of the ship. It had 3 heavy, main cannons on turrets so that they could turn and fire to the side or forward and the sides of the hull were lined with smaller, less powerful, secondary cannons. The bridge was a box on a raised section of the ship, right behind the main cannons.

The ship Vyse and his crewmates were on was pretty old fashioned by comparison. Wooden with 3 masts covered in sails adorned with the Dyne family insignia, maneuvering fins on the side and steam vents along the bottom to keep the engine cool. The Albatross was a beautiful sailboat by any standards.

Right after Vyse saw the hooks were secure he jumped from the crows nest and grabbed one of the lines. Using it as a zip line he landed on the deck of the vaulan cruiser… and right in the middle of a bunch of soldiers. "Heh, looks like they prepared the welcome wagon for me." Said a smirking Vyse.

One of the soldiers nearby yelled. "Fool don't you know that we're part of the imperial armada?"

"Of course we know, that's why we attacked you. You guys always have the best stuff. I'm Vyse and in a few minutes we're going to relieve you of all your valuables." Replied Vyse, his smirk never fading.

"Hey! Wait for me Vyse!" shouted his long time friend and companion Aika just before she landed behind him.

Aika is a 5 foot 3 inch red head who usually puts her long hair up in 2 strait braids that stick out of the side of her head and angle towards her back so they don't get in the way. Her eyes are about the same red-orange color of her hair. She wears a simple one piece, yellow dress that shows off her maturing 17 year old figure, a blue belt with a silver buckle around her waist, a blue band around her right wrist and a big yellow glove on her left hand and black short-shorts underneath her dress. Lastly, she wore yellow boots that went up to her knees.

Aika is a bit of a hot head who loses her temper a lot and who isn't afraid to speak her mind, but when she's in a good mood she's really nice. She loves treasure… almost a bit too much. She does care a lot about her friends though since her parents died a long time ago. Her weapon of choice is a boomerang that's almost as big as she is tall.

"Trying to rob us all by yourselves? You're either very full of yourself or very, very stupid." Said the same soldier, who was about to continue but was cut off by a shout.

"You mean as stupid as the eight of you or as stupid as that hag you call a queen? Either way you're insulting stupid people everywhere by bringing them down to Vaula's level." The speaker was Brad, who was standing beside Piastol outside the ring of soldiers surrounding Vyse with his sword pointing towards them.

"You brat! How dare you insult her majesty! You will pay for your insolence with your-"

"Pyri!" shouted Brad, cutting off the soldier's sentence. The spell formed a large fireball right above Vyse's head which exploded outward roasting all the soldiers in the circle but leaving Vyse unharmed.

One of the soldiers had seen the blast coming and braced himself for it. He was about to get up and attack but he suddenly found one of Vyse's two cutlasses' pressed up against his neck, the other one being held by the side handle in a defensive grip. "Surrender or die." Said Vyse.

The soldier immediately dropped his sword and put his hands up in the air.

"Good job you four. Nice teamwork" Came the voice of captain Dyne as he led the rest of the crew's fighters came aboard the cruiser. "Now go introduce yourselves to the captain of this ship. And don't forget to tell him everything aboard is ours now."

"Aye aye!" said the four teens as they headed for the hatch on the deck. After jumping down the hole they found themselves in a storage room full of supply chests. "Might as well loot the place while we look for the door." Said Aika happily before opening a chest. In total they found 6 sacri crystals, one moonberry, and 3 magic droplets before they decided to move on.

After traversing a corridor they found themselves in the chamber right below the bridge. As they were about to continue on they heard a voice say "So, air pirates have decided to… infest my ship." Looking up they saw what must have been the captain of the ship. He was wearing a silver breastplate with yellow tassels and a silver cape on the back and black pants. He had blond hair that looked very well combed and an "I'm superior to everyone else" look on his face. Behind him was what must have been his vise captain, who was wearing a white version of the vaulan soldiers uniform and had a girl in white clothes slung over his shoulder.

"The name's Vyse. Are you the captain of this ship?" asked Vyse.

The man puffed out his chest to make himself seem overly important and said in a snobbish tone "I am Alfonso, cherished son of empress Tedoria, and first admiral of the vaulan armada. Normally filth such as yourselves would never get to bask in the glorious presence of one such as myself. You should consider yourselves blessed."

"Yeah… right… who's the girl?" said Vyse In an unimpressed tone. "I never thought one of your… stature would stoop to kidnapping."

"Bah… You're very observant for a rouge. But, I digress; I have no time to waste on you so I shall simply have you exterminated like the filth you are. Guards, dispose of them."

As soon as Alfonso said that 5 guards appeared, jumping off the scaffolding and landing in front of the four teens. Vyse ran up and slashed one across the chest before spinning and impaling another in the stomach. Needless to say both of them were dead.

Aika threw her large boomerang at one of the guards… and missed by three feet. The guard was about to run up and attack her when the boomerang came and hit him on it's return trip, right in the back of the neck, killing him and continuing back to it's owner.

Brad's opponent decided to take a less direct approach and said "crystali!" he summoned a ball of ice about the size of his head and launched it at Brad. However Brad was ready

"pyri!" Brad said as he used his magic to engulf his sword in flame. He then ran forward, cut the ice ball cleanly in two and then decapitated the guard before dismissing the flame.

Piastol's opponent ran towards her with his sword at his side in a lancing position. Piastol jumped over him, did a forward roll in midair, imbedded her scythe's blade into her opponent's back, landed, and used the momentum from both his charge and her roll to fling him, face first, onto the floor, where he landed with a sickening crack.

Their battles done, the teens ran up the stairs to the catwalk. As they got up there they saw Alfonso on the catwalk across from them say "If you want this ship that badly fine. I'll just get another one. Goodbye you filthy rouges." Before walking through an open doorway behind him, his vise captain following while carrying the girl in white.

"Follow them!" Brad shouted.

"Right. We've got to help that girl." Said Vyse.

As they made their way through the doorway they saw a huge door up ahead that was bolted shut and locked.

"Hey! It looks like we can go through here!" shouted Aika, pointing down a side corridor which the teens quickly ran down and through the door at the end. The door took them out the side of the ship, near the back end. Right next to them was a ladder which they quickly descended to a lower area of the ship where there was another door waiting for them. Vyse quietly opened the door and entered just in time to see Alfonso toss his vise captain overboard through the open hanger door.

"Heh" Alfonso said snobbishly. "Even in death he shall serve me well. But empress, my vise captain betrayed me and gave our ship to the pirates!"

"So this is how Vaula treats it's people." Said Vyse in a disgusted tone while making sure Alfonso heard him.

"What?" said Alfonso while turning around "You pests are still following me?"

"Of course. We pirates are a tenacious bunch" said Brad

Vyse then spoke up while Piastol and Aika were checking on the girl who was sprawled out on the floor "Since this ship and everything in it belongs to us now well be taking the girl as well. Now there's just one more thing to take care of… After seeing you kill one of your own men in cold blood I can't let you walk away from here alive. Draw your blade Alfonso!" he pretty much roared the last part.

Alfonso just stood there with a disgusting smirk on his face and said uncivilized rouge like yourself crossing blades with a nobleman like me? I think not. But… if it's an executioner you want I'll happily provide a substitute. Come Antonio!"


End file.
